


Christmas Gala

by iamsam4497



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Chat Noir Being Chat Noir, Chat Noir Needs A Hug, F/M, Hot Mess Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Supportive Tikki
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-12
Updated: 2019-06-12
Packaged: 2020-05-01 22:26:42
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,879
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19186588
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iamsam4497/pseuds/iamsam4497
Summary: A short reveal fic with marichat cuz they're my favorite





	Christmas Gala

Marinette sat down heavily on her deck chair on the balcony. It’d been a long evening and even longer day. A bus had splashed her on the way to school causing her to be late. She was always late, but this time she was soaking wet too.

Ms. Mendeleiev had also re-assigned partners for a new unit in their physics lab. This meant Marinette and Alya no longer sat next to each other. Her new partner was Nino, not that she had any issues with Nino, they’d known each other for years. He was one of her closest friends. The worst part was that Adrien and Chloé had been paired up.

“Ugh,” she leaned the broom she’d been holding against her chair. Massaging her temples, she flopped backwards letting the soft pillows catch her in their embrace. Marinette groaned again and rolled onto her side.

They’d been assigned a substantial amount of homework along with their new lab partners and Marinette hadn’t even opened her book since she’d arrived home. What with the holidays approaching, her parents needed her in the bakery almost constantly. 500 Madeleines and almost 5 hours later, she slowly dragged herself up the ladder to her room. Throwing the trap door open, Marinette was immediately showered in bits of fabric and sparkles.

“Oh nooo,” she’d forgotten about her half-finished dress for the Christmas Gala. Ladybug and Chat Noir had been asked to attend in civilian “White Tie” formal. With masks, of course. And Marinette had taken on the responsibility of both hers and Chat Noir’s formal wear. Pulling herself up into the room she resigned herself to the fact that she had to clean up the current disaster before she’d be able to get any physics work done.

Tikki drifted across the room towards the partially completed dress, “Marinette, it’s beautiful,” tiny red hands ran along the skirt in appreciation.

“Thanks, Tikki. I’m really not sure how I’m going to get both the dress and Chat’s tux done in time. Especially with Maman and Papa needing me in the bakery and more people being akumatized around the holidays,” Marinette made her opinions on Christmas akumas clear with and exceptionally aggressive sweep of her broom.

“Well, it’s two weeks away. And once you finish the packet that Ms. Mendeleiev gave you, the only distraction left will be helping your parents out in the bakery. And you can start Chat’s tonight while on patrol,” Tikki swooped back across the room to where Marinette was standing.

“I can’t sew while I’m swinging across Paris!” Marinette giggled and held out her hand for Tikki to land on. “That’s true. You can’t. But you can get Chat’s measurements!” the kwami settled into Marinette’s outstretched palm.

Marinette giggled again and raised her hand to her shoulder, allowing Tikki to climb onto her shoulder, “I should probably get started on that packet before patrol tonight.”

“Looking at the City of Lights all lit up always makes you feel better, maybe watch the lights a bit before diving into physics?” Tikki nuzzled into Marinette’s cheek, the concern evident in her voice.

“We-ll, maybe just for a bit . . .”

~~~

“Purrrrr-incess?”

Marinette awoke with a start grabbing wildly for her discarded broom. Her hands found the handle before her eyes and she swung at the shadowy figure on her balcony. “AAARGGHH!”

“OW,” Chat winced and stumbled as the broom collided with his head, “Princess, that hurt.”

“Oh. My. GOD. Chat, I’m so sorry!” Marinette rushed forward to help Chat Noir up from where he had overdramatically collapsed on her balcony. “It’s alright, Mari. It’s my fault. I shouldn’t have startled you like that. I just wanted to see a friendly face tonight. I had kind of a rough day at school and My Lady didn’t show for patrol. I’m actually pretty worried about her and you know her, right? She said you were her friend when that one akuma went after you. The guy with the pen and tablet? With the boat on Seine. Remember him? I mean. Of course you remember him. He tried to drown you. That’s kind of a big thing to forget about. And anyway, I thought since you knew her you might know why she didn’t come out for patrol and if she’s okay. I mean, I didn’t just come to ask after Ladybug. That would be really rude. I also wanted to see a real friend and you’re a real friend and Iamalsoveryconcernedaboutmybugaboodoyouknowwheresheis?”

She grasped his wrist and swung him up. Chat’s body crashed into her own, almost knocking them both right back down. They were too close but, “Oh, Chaton, I’m sorry. I’m sure she just got caught up in homework or maybe she fell asleep like I did instead of doing her homework,” Marinette forced out a laugh, “I don’t know for sure but she’s probably fine. I can text her if you’d like? Did you want to stay for a bit? I can make us some hot chocolate and you can tell me about your day,” her hand had found its way to his cheek. Chat leaned into her touch. Marinette suddenly became very aware of their proximity and jumped backwards, “I’ll go make that hot chocolate!”

Almost as soon as she had touched him, she was gone, disappearing down the ladder into her room. Chat stared at the space she had occupied moments before, his hand reaching up to his own cheek where Marinette’s hand had been. Well. That was certainly unexpected. Would it be okay to go inside? She had invited him in. And left the trapdoor open. He slipped across the roof and dropped into Marinette’s room.

He’d been in her room before. But only to play Ultimate Mega Strike III for that tournament. And that was during the day. And certainly not after they’d been that close. Looking around the room, his eyes found the half-done dress on the mannequin. Wow, Marinette was an amazing seamstress and even more talented designer. It wasn’t even completed and it was already beautiful.

Marinette’s hands shook slightly as she poured the milk into the mugs. Why had she touched his face? That was such a Ladybug move. To comfort him like that. And, OH, Ladybug! How could she have forgotten about patrol?! She slept right through it! What if an akuma had shown up? Or even just everyday criminals? Chat could’ve gotten hurt and it would’ve been completely her fault for not being there with him. How could she be so stupid? And Tikki-! She almost dropped the mugs, Tikki! Chat was in her room and Tikki usually slept on her pillows in plain view. Fumbling with the marshmallows, Marinette rushed to finish the hot chocolate and raced back upstairs.

Chat circled the dress form, eyeing the beadwork. No touching, only looking. Claws, even hardened leather ones, don’t belong anywhere near fragile fabrics. He knew his fashion. How could he not? He was the one and only “Radiant, carefree, dreamy, Adrien.” The dress was reminiscent of Ladybug. There wasn’t a completed top yet, but the skirt was red satin ballgown with strings of red and black beads of varying sizes draped in pleasing arcs around the entire thing. Man, this probably weighed—

“Chat I have—," but he cut her off, “Mari this is incredible.”

Oh. Oh no. This was worse. This was so much worse. Tikki was more than capable of hiding herself. She was practically a mini god. But now Chat had seen her dress. Ladybug’s dress. She closed her eyes. This was just a nightmare. She was still asleep in her deck chair. Chat hadn’t come by. Marinette slowly opened her eyes again and saw Chat staring at her with a puzzled expression on his face. C’mon, think!

“Oh, it’s nothing, just messing around with beading, probably just going to scrap it tomorrow anyways,” Marinette threw herself between Chat and the dress in a futile attempt to conceal it, “Really, it’s not that big of a deal. I was just experimenting with—,”

Chat cut her off again, “Mari, please. You think I don’t know my way around a sewing machine? This is some seriously impressive stuff. It must have taken you hours. Did you design it yourself? You really ought to take this to my—I mean you should show this to your friends, it’s incredible.”

Oh man, she knew she got tongue tied while trying to talk to Adrien, but this was even worse. At least with Adrien she could open her mouth and words came out. Even if they were in the wrong order or not even the correct ones, they still appeared. But this, she couldn’t even move her jaw, “Yes.”

It was a barely audible squeak of a response but Plagg gave Adrien more abilities as Chat Noir than just smooth-talking Ladybug. He was also gifted with heightened hearing, “How much does this weigh? Those look like glass beads. And there are a LOT of them.”

That caught her off guard. So now her kitty not only knows about fashion, but wants to know about her own designs? “Um . . . i-i-it’s res-resin. Resin. N-not glass beads. They’re resin,” well at least he hadn’t noticed how much it looked like Ladybug’s costume.

“Oh, that’s clever. Are you going somewhere dressy?” This dress was waaay too fancy for any dances that could be coming up at school, and even weddings Adrien had been to usually weren’t this jazzed up. The only place he ever saw dresses this extravagant was at— “Mari, were you invited to the Christmas Gala??”

Marinette’s heart stopped. She was glad her dress form was next to her desk because she needed to sit down, “WhAT. nO. CouLD you IMAgine??? ME? Who me would invite me?!” He was so incredibly close to a truth he couldn’t know. Every revelation brought him closer and he had no idea. This was so bad, “Kitty, you said you had a bad day, tell me about it?” A large topic jump, but anything to get away from Ladybug. There was that puzzled look again, oh please say something, anything!

“Yeah. I did have purr-ty rough day,” he was punning. Okay. He’s okay with not talking about the dress, “I got assigned a new partner in one of my classes and . . . well, I don’t hate her. But she can be a bit abrasive sometimes? Like, she’s a good person at heart but sometimes she struggles to be the girl I know she is.”

That was okay, right? There’s plenty of schools in Paris and plenty of classes that could require partners. He didn’t specify Françoise Dupont or even mention physics. Just another Parisian teenager, “When I got home, my father gave me an earful about being late to class this morning. I wasn’t trying to be, but there was a cat in the road. I had to stop to help it.”

Marinette allowed a smile to creep onto her lips, “That’s pretty funny, I was late to class today too! And my physics class also got re-assigned lab partners. Maybe you’re in my class!” she was laughing now, “Imagine that! THE teenage heartthrob of Paris,” she put on a mock announcer voice, “Second only to male model, Adrien Agreste, IN MY CLASS. Ha! Both of you in my class . . .”

Chat choked on his hot chocolate. 

“You said you found a cat?”

Still sputtering a little Chat managed a reply, “Uh. Yeah. My father actually has no idea there’s two black cats living under his roof now.”

Marinette spun her desk chair around to face Chat again. He was sprawled across her chaise, almost like a real cat, “What’d you name it?” She could see the blush spread across his face and disappear under his mask.

“Uh. . . . Jiji . . .”

“Sorry, didn’t catch that,” Marinette smirked at him from across the room. Chat groaned and buried his face in her pillows, “Noooo! You’re just gonna laugh!” He sat up and threw a pillow at her, “I named her Jiji cuz she’s black with green eyes, too.”

“Wait. Like the cat from Kiki’s Delivery Service? Chat, that’s the cutest thing ever,” she threw the pillow back to him, “Do you have a job? I mean, how are you going to afford a cat without your parents knowing?”

Chat shrugged, “My family has money,” he could feel the blush returning to his face, “I get a decent amount in allowance. More than enough to take care of a cat. And it’s just me and my dad and he never really looks in my room.”

“Oh. I’m sorry. I didn’t know,” Marinette was learning all sorts of things about her partner tonight that Ladybug didn’t know. That was going to be a pain to keep straight.

“No worries, Princess. It’s been a while. And I still miss her but it’s not fresh anymore,” all the traces of joking were gone from his eyes as he turned to face her, “Mari, I don’t want to be pushy but can we call Ladybug? Or at least you call her? She’s never skipped out on me like that before and I’m worried something awful has happened to her.”

Oh. Right. Ladybug.

“Um,” she needed to find an excuse. Now, “I can’t,” Wow. Fabulous. Professional level.

“You . . . can’t?”

Well. Technically true, “No. I can’t,” He was going to put two and two together the moment Marinette showed up to the Gala as Ladybug in the same exact dress, “Chat I need to tell you-”

“IS SHE DEAD?” Chat was at Marinette’s feet so quickly, she could have sworn he teleported.

“What? No, I-”

“Missing? Have her parents called the police? Does she have parents? Do we need to go to the police? Ohmygod. What if she’s in the hospital?! I could probably get my father-,” Chat was now halfway out the window.

“CHAT NOIR. Sit. Down,” he was going to hurt himself if he took off into the night in this state. She had to do something. Marinette pressed his hot chocolate back into his hands before gently guiding him back to her chaise, “Let me finish this time, Kitty.”

Marinette couldn’t. Couldn’t contact his Lady. Why? She had to be hurt or missing. There was no other explanation. Chat allowed himself to be seated on the chaise. Where did this hot chocolate come from? He looked up and was shocked to see tears in Marinette’s eyes. His Lady was gone, she must be. 

Marinette could feel the tears starting to fall. She looked up and now her kitty was crying too. Well this was a disaster. Not how she wanted this to go down at all, “Kitty,” she stepped backwards and reached towards the unfinished dress, “I lied. I was invited to the Christmas Gala. But not as me.”

What does that mean? What did this have to do with Ladybug? Chat opened his mouth to say as much.

“No. Let me finish, Chaton,” she broke her eye contact with him and looked down at her hands which she had been nervously running along the strings of beads, “I was invited at the same time you were,” Marinette steeled herself and turned around to look Chat’s revelation head on. Except he just looked confused. 

Invited the same time he was? He was beyond confused. How did this relate to Ladybug’s whereabouts? And what on earth was Mari going on about? She hadn’t been there. The mayor had invited Chat Noir and Ladybug-

Oh.

No, there was no way. She couldn’t be.

Chat looked up at her like a child might look at the stars, “. . . Chaton?” Tears were streaming freely down his cheeks now. Uh oh. Maybe this was a bad idea. She made to take his hand but he stood suddenly.

“Plagg. Claws in,” maybe this wasn’t the best decision he’d ever made but she’d revealed herself to him so it was only fair, right?

“CHAT, NO!” 

But it was too late, the green light filled the room and left her blinded for a few moments. She wouldn’t look. She couldn’t look. This was not how it was supposed to happen. What if she knew him? Or worse, what if she didn’t? 

“Mari?” At least he sounded the same, “Please.”

She kept her gaze trained on the floor. If she kept her eyes closed and her head down, she wouldn’t see his face. Marinette started when hands touched her arms. Bare hands. No leather. Skin.  
“Princess.”

Marinette opened her eyes but kept her head down. Chat didn’t have shoes on. Didn’t even have socks on. And, were those Ladybug pajama pants? She couldn’t stop it now even if she tried. She sat down on the chaise and let the laughter flow. It beat sobbing, “I can’t believe this. You know who I am. And you’re standing here in civilian form and we’re both in pajamas in my room!”

Oh man, maybe he shouldn’t have released his transformation. Adrien knelt in front of the chaise and cautiously reached out a hand to Marinette. His Princess. His Lady. He needed her to look at him. To know. He touched her cheek and she jumped again, “Bugaboo. Please.”

What a day. From being soaked by a passing bus to sitting de-transformed in front of an also de-transformed Chat. Marinette reached up to place her hand over Chat’s. And slowly looked up.

All rational thought stopped in that second. Her hand fell from Chat’s. No. Adrien’s.

“ADRIEN?!”

“Uh. Hey,” he attempted a casual wave but it was rendered useless when accompanied with nervous laughter.

This wasn’t happening. This was all a dream. She must still be asleep on the deck chair and the cold was giving her wild dreams. Adrien Agreste could NOT be in her room barefoot wearing Ladybug pajama pants. Adrien could not have told her the dress she made was beautiful. Adrien could not have found her asleep on her balcony.

“I’m sorry. I know I’m probably not who you wanted me to be. If you don’t want to see me again, I won’t come back and it’ll be saving Paris only,” Adrien sat back on his heels, still trying to get a read on Marinette’s reaction.

“What?”

“Well, Adrien makes you uncomfortable, I thought and now that you know I’m kind of regretting this because Chat Noir will too.”

“Wait. You think I dislike Adrien?”

“Yes?”

Marinette let out a short laugh, “Are you serious? I’ve been stupidly in love with you since the day you gave me your umbrella.”

Now it was his turn to stare at her open mouthed, “What.”

She reached behind her chaise and pulled out an umbrella, “See?” She turned the handle towards him to show the black butterfly logo, synonymous with the Agreste brand, etched onto it.

“You . . . you kept this?” Marinette was in love with him? She kept the umbrella? Ladybug was in love with him, “Mari, you know I am also hopelessly in love with Ladybug, right? And you’re her, I can’t believe I didn’t see it before. Same stance, same beliefs, same persona, even the same distaste for Chloe,” he chuckled.

“No. I’m not her. I mean. I am. But I’m Marinette. Ladybug is my false self.”

“Princess. Adrien is my false self. I can’t do anything as me. The only time I can be free and do as I please is as Chat Noir,” this was ridiculous, he couldn’t believe he was trying to convince his Lady that since she was in love with him, she could also be in love with also . . . him.

The image of Chat Noir kissing Marinette’s hand popped unbidden into her mind, “You . . . you don’t . . . but . . .”

Adrien grasped her hands, “I’m still me and you’re still you. It shouldn’t matter whether you call me ‘Chaton’ or ‘Adrien’ or if I call you ‘Princess’ or ‘Ladybug.’ I love you no matter what name you go by or whether you’re wearing a red suit with polka dots or pink jeans. You’re still the same clever girl who puts others first and does her best to always save the day.”

“But you kissed Marinette’s hand! And ohmygod Ladybug kissed YOU!” This was very confusing. Too many pronouns. 

“YOU WHAT.”

“I, uh, kissed you. To save you! When Kim got akumatized? Right after you tried to kill me.”

“I WHAT.”

“I kind of forgot to tell you. It’s not like we both haven’t tried to kill each other before.”

“Yeah, okay. That's fair,” his hand drifted subconsciously to his middle where Ladybug had had the tip of a sword only a week before, “But why didn't you tell me you kissed me?”

“Because you would’ve flipped, you just DID flip. I also wasn’t ready for the fallout from it. Good or bad. I knew you were crushing on Ladybug but what if you were upset I kissed you to save you? Or what if you took it is a sign we were meant to be? I wasn’t ready for either so I just left it. I’m sure you’ve done some things while I’ve been possessed that you haven’t told me either. I didn’t think it was that big of a deal, I’m sorry Chaton. It won’t happen again.”

Oh no, she was crying again. This wasn’t even about her kissing him and now she was apologizing for it?

“Mari,” Adrien gently removed the umbrella from Marinette’s hands and replaced them with his own. Too bad he was in his pajamas, that meant no handkerchief in his pocket. His sleeve would have to do, “Princess . . .”

God, what was wrong with her today? Sobbing in front of Adrien? Telling Adrien she loved him? Turning him down?? 

Adrien gently wiped her tears with the end of his sleeve, “Marinette,” he just wanted to be close to her, to his Lady, “It doesn’t matter at all what name you go by, you’ll always be my Queen. And if you’ll have me, I’d like to take you to get some ice cream tomorrow after school. As Marinette and Adrien. And we’ll be ourselves.”

“Ice cream?” That caught her off guard, “Adrien, it’s the middle of December.”

“Yeah, but Andre would love to see us together.”

“Oh, God, I have to apologize to him,” Marinette snorted, “It was my fault he was akumatized. But he was right.”

“He was right for me, too, you know.”

Another one out of left field, “He was?” She wondered what flavors Andre had chosen to represent her.

“Yeah, I went as Adrien after we defeated Glaciator and he gave me ‘Strawberry with black chocolate chip, blackberries for her hair, blueberry ice cream just like her sky blue stare.’ To me, that’s a spitting image of My Lady . . . and my Princess,” Adrien moved to cup her cheek again, “What did he give to you?”

Marinette felt the blood rush to her face, he could probably feel it on his palm, “Uhm. ‘Pea-peach. Peach pink like his lip-lips . . .’” she couldn’t help herself and glanced down at his lips, “‘and mint. Like his eyes,’” she looked back up and Adrien was staring directly into her eyes.

“Pink like his lips, huh?”

“Ye-yes.”

“Princess?”

“Yes, kitty?” His hand was still on her face, how on Earth was he so calm right now?

“Can I kiss you?”

“. . . yeah.”

**Author's Note:**

> First fic, I appreciate any and all feedback. Will post some more eventually, I hope.
> 
> This is the layout I used for Marinette's room: https://miraculousladybug.fandom.com/wiki/File:Marinette%27s_Room_2D_Concept_Art.jpg


End file.
